By Lesley Aeschliman, BLOGCRITICS.ORG

Published 4:51 pm, Saturday, April 27, 2013

Kamisama Kiss Volume Eight is a manga by Julietta Suzuki, and it was published in North America by Viz Media's Shojo Beat imprint in 2012. The series is rated "T" for teens; from what I've read of the series so far, I would agree with this rating.

Nanami Momozono is a high school student who becomes homeless after her father skips out of town to avoid paying his gambling debts. One night, Nanami meets a man who turns out to be the land god; he gives her a kiss on the forehead and gives her the power of a kami.

With this kiss, Nanami becomes the new god at the land god's shrine. Nanami has two familiars serving her: Tomoe the fox demon and a snake incarnation named Mizuki.

This volume finds Nanami in the land of the dead after falling down a hole at the end of Volume Seven after being assigned to protect the entrance during the kami conference. A human named Kirihito fell into the land of the dead with her.

While she's in the land of the dead, Nanami learns that Kirihito isn't what he seems to be, and also manages to raise the ire of Yomotsuokami, the kami of the land of the dead.

Tomoe also gets to play a major role later in Volume Eight, and a character the reader hasn't seen for quite a while also makes a return. At the same time, the reader also learns a little something about Tomoe as well.

I apologize for the vagueness of some of this plot synopsis, but if I go any farther, I run the risk of going into "spoiler" territory even more than I already have. I don't want to give too much away, because then no one would have a reason to read Volume Eight after reading this review.

I ended up really enjoying Volume Eight. In fact, I got so wrapped up in what I was reading that I didn't want to put it down. I think that this was due not only to the story, but also Suzuki's art style. It complements this story very well, which makes the manga just as enjoyable to look at as it is to read it.

If you've the previous seven volumes of Kamisama Kiss, then I think you'll find that Volume Eight is also an enjoyable and satisfying read.